Conversation 055-005

On May 4, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and members of the President's Commission on School Finance and the President's Panel on Nonpublic Education, including Neil H. McElroy, William G. Colman, Hilda A. Davis, Dorothy M. L. Ford, Eugene Gonzales, David H. Kurtzman, Rev. William E. McManus, Wendell H. Pierce, William G. Saltonstall, William B. Thompson, Clarence Walton, Ivan E. Zylstra, Norman Karsh, Clint Pace, Terrel H. Bell, John R. Ottina, Caspar W. ("Cap") Weinberger, Joseph B. White, Phillips Grace, Paul H. O'Neill, John D. Ehrlichman, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Edward L. Morgan, and Dr. Sidney P. Marland, Jr., met in the Cabinet Room of the White House from 10:30 am to 11:36 am. The Cabinet Room taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 055-005 of the White House Tapes.

Conversation No. 55-5

Date: May 4, 1971
Time: 10:30 am - 11:36 am
Location: Cabinet Room

The President met with Neil H. McElroy, William G. Colman, Hilda A. Davis, Dorothy M. L.
Ford, Eugene Gonzales, David H. Kurtzman, Reverend William E. McManus, Wendell H.
Pierce, William G. Saltonstall, William B. Thompson, Clarence Walton, Ivan E. Zylstra, Norman
Karsh, Clint Pace, Terrel H. Bell, John R. Ottina, Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger, Joseph B.
White, Phillips Grace, Paul H. O’Neill, John D. Ehrlichman, Kenneth R. Cole, Jr., Edward L.
Morgan, and Dr. Sidney P. Marland, Jr.

     [General conversation/Unintelligible]

     Introductions

     Photo session
          -Timing

     Presentation

     Regrets
          -John Fisher, Teachers’ College, Columbia
          -John B. Davis, Jr., Superintendent of Schools, Minneapolis
          -Warren P. Knowles
               -Buford Ellington

     White House staff
          -Appreciation for cooperation
          -Unknown man and Morgan
          -Ehrlichman
          -Marland

President’s Executive Order March 3, 1970
     -Establishing Commission on School Finance and the Panel on Non-public Education
     -Final report requirements
     -Commission
     -Research projects undertaken
     -Educational concerns
     -Major questions
     -Financing elementary and secondary education
           -Specifics on quality of education and equality of educational opportunity
           -Cost
           -Provision of funds

Panel on Non-public Education
     -Report, February 12, 1971
     -Walton
     -Progress report, March 22, 1971
     -Recommendations and conclusions
     -Completion of first project
     -Projections on secondary education through 1980
     -Types of school
     -Suburban, rural, et cetera
     -Disposal of funds for education
     -Disparity in educational support
           -Variations between States
           -Within cities
           -Unknown city’s amounts
     -Alternative revenue
     -Concerns
     -Meaning of terms
     -Definition
     -Social and constitutional aspects of non-public schools
     -School closings
     -Financing schools
     -Role of government
     -Inner-city schools
     -Use of technology
     -Quality and quantity demands on schools
     -Accomplishments of schools
           -Expectations
     -Wide responsibility
     -Commission
           -Reaction

    -Projections
    -Non-public schools
    -Findings
    -Exhilaration of panel members
    -President’s establishment of panel
    -Relationship with non-public sector
    -President’s commitment to education
    -Findings
    -Talks with leaders of non-public schools
          -National Association of Independent Schools
          -Hebrew day school groups
          -Protestant groups
          -Parochial schools
    -Sense of crisis
    -Concerns
    -Parochial school sector
          -Lack of revenues
          -Training of personnel
          -Teachers’ concerns
          -Parents’ concerns
    -Possible future developments
          -May 20, 1971 meeting of leaders of non-public schools in Washington
          -Private investment in non-public education
          -May 24, 1971 meeting in Michigan
                -William G. Milliken
    -Importance of non-public sector
          -Need of confidence
          -Elliot L. Richardson

Smoking
    -Dwight D. Eisenhower
    -Cabinet
    -Charles E. Wilson
    -Chair in Cabinet Room

School bonds and financing
    -Public reaction
    -Problem
    -Financial crisis
    -Parochial schools
    -Public schools
    -Commission’s purpose

           -Commitment to education
     -Federal government
     -Revenue sharing
     -Educational revenue sharing
     -State and local government
           -Responsibilities
     -Private level
           -Contributions
           -Paid tuitions
     -Citizens’ confidence in educational system
     -Crisis
     -Financing in political campaigns
     -Current situation

Education
    -Quality of education
    -Priority of education
          -Re-establishment in public mind
    -Educational reform
    -Professional educators
    -Committee’s role
    -Necessity of making changes
    -Colman
    -Quality of education
    -Fisher
    -Evaluation of educational output
    -Quality education
          -Meaning
          -Ranges ratio
    -Reform of education
    -Problem of public confidence
          -Inner-city schools
          -Quality of teachers
          -White House conference in 1950s
                -Staffing
          -Unprepared teachers
                -Tenure
          -Inner-city schools
          -Rural schools
          -City schools
                -Analogy
          -Rural areas

     -City schools
           -Theodore S. (“Ted”) Williams
           -Henry L. (“Hank”) Aaron
                 -Career
           -Mickey C. Mantle
           -Willie H. Mays, Jr.
     -Rural areas
           -Problems
           -Poverty
           -Poor housing
           -Poor education
     -Greenville, Mississippi
           -Thompson
     -Iowa
           -Teachers’ salaries compared with New York City
           -Mississippi
     -Federal aid to education
           -Standards
     -Inner-city schools
           -Terence Cardinal Cooke
           -Los Angeles
-Innovation in education
     -Reform
     -Los Angeles meeting of Commission
           -Ford and Gonzalez
           -Experimental
           -Los Angeles area
     -Bicultural program
           -Whittier College
           -Elementary and junior high schools
     -Vocational area
           -Los Angeles County school program
                 -Mexican-American students
                 -Job skills
                 -Training for job market
     -Bilingual act
           -California
                 -Indian population
           -Japanese, Chinese in San Francisco
           -Santa Monica area
                 -Portuguese
           -Spanish-speaking

     -Teachers
     -Pooling of resources
     -Teacher training
     -Language and culture training
     -Working with parents
     -Improvisation
     -Spanish-speaking community
           -Los Angeles County region
           -Mexican-Americans
           -Blacks
           -Language problem
           -Chicanos
-Vocational education
     -Hospital programs in Black areas
     -Low income areas
     -Hospitals
-Technology of education
     -Television
     -Importance
     -Recommendations
     -Testing
     -Improving quality education
-Funding
     -Responsibility at state level
     -Property tax
     -Full level
     -Dispersing of funds
     -State commission studies
           -Statement by Milliken
     -New methods
     -Impact on education
     -Property tax
     -Income tax
     -Sales tax
     -Property tax
           -Increase
           -Associated with education
           -Financing of education
     -Tax system
     -Revenue sharing
     -Federal revenues
     -General revenue sharing

-Reform
-Pierce
-State education administration
-Commission’s report
-Inner city
-Private schools
-Problem
-Commission’s report
      -Controversial items
-Property tax
-Education task force problems
      -Establishment views
      -Structured
-Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and Education Office
-Private schools
      -Controversial aspects
      -Supreme Court
      -Amounts
      -Religious training
      -Catholic Church
      -Impact
      -Philadelphia
      -Chicago
      -Los Angeles
      -New York
      -Crisis
      -Need of strong, viable system
      -Textbooks
      -Kurtzman
-Non-public schools
-Emergency Assistance Act
      -Public schools
      -Non-public schools
            -Preservation of integrated cities
            -Ethnic groups in Chicago
                 -Polish
                 -Lithuanian
                 -Ukrainian
            -Importance
-Supreme Court decision
-School systems
-Finances

                -Moral leadership
                -Present administration
                -Congress
                -Leadership
                -Private education
                -Black population in Mississippi
                -Southern states
                -Public and private education
                      -Distinction
                      -Title acts
                      -Segregated academies
                      -Federal funds
                -Statistics on black students in North and South
                -Integration
                -South
                      -Tradition
                      -Private academies
                      -Institution of slavery
                             -Vouchers
                      -Private academies
                -Public schools
                -Supreme Court decision
                      -Alabama
                -Rural areas
                -Cities
                      -Atlanta
                      -Charlotte
                      -Segregation patterns
                -Integration
                -Discrimination
                -Quality teachers
                      -Problem in North and South
          -Tolerance
          -Correction of deficiencies
          -Money
          -Use of emergency assistance funds for transportation
          -State statutes
          -Supreme Court decision
          -Communities

Commission’s work
   -President’s interest

The White House photographer was present at an unknown time after 10:30 am

           -Prospective report
           -School funds

     [General conversation/Unintelligible]

     Presentation of gifts

     President’s expression of thanks

     [General conversation/Unintelligible]

The President, et al. left at 11:36 am